1. Field Of The Invention:
The present invention relates to an apparatus for planting seeds and the like and more particularly to such an apparatus which is particularly well suited to planting extremely fine seeds such as onion seeds in a plurality of substantially parallel beds of earth during movement thereover and being adjustable in such a manner as to permit rapid modification of the operative components thereof without substantial disassembly of the apparatus and further which possesses the ability automatically to free itself of debris enountered during passage over the beds of earth.
2. Description Of The Prior Art:
Agricultural devices for planting seeds on an automated basis have long been known, but have been characterized by various problems which interfere with fully dependable and trouble free operation. One problem which is particularly nagging is that of the planting heads becoming encumbered by debris such as trash, rocks, hardpan and the like. Although it has been known to use planting heads which can pivot upwardly, in practice, such devices have not operated dependably to free themselves from such obstacles.
Another problem characteristic of seed planting devices has been the inability, without substantial reconstruction, to adjust the operative components of the devices to achieve different planting patterns and operative effects. This severely limits utility of such prior art devices in that reconstruction requires substantial downtime during which, of course, the equipment is inoperative. In other instances, it is impossible, as a practical matter, to reconstruct the device for alternate planting patterns.
These and other inadequacies in prior art devices result in part from their characteristically cumbersome structure which detracts from their utility and dependability.
Therefore, it has long been known that it would be desirable to have an apparatus for planting seeds and the like which is of quite simple and dependable construction operating in such a manner as automatically to free itself of debris encountered during operation without interfering with operation of the apparatus, which can be adjusted to achieve different planting patterns without substantial reconstruction of the apparatus and which operates in a fully dependable and effective manner.